Blazing X Blessing
by Harhiet SusanMyers
Summary: When young Kurapika of the Kuruta clan was to be a stepson of the Zoldicks, his life had been turning into a nightmare ever since. However, he never knew that he would soon encounter a whole new beginning of war, friendship, happiness, and love.
1. Chapter 1: Day of The Torture

BLAZING X BLESSING

(Based on CINDERELLA by Charles Perrault)

PROLOGUE 1

Author: Finally a chapter is finished! Now…you're in charge of the disclaimer part, Kurapika!

Kurapika: And could you possibly tell me for what reason do I have to do so?

Author: Because we're going to continue the story from YOUR POINT OF VIEW, and it's your turn now so just say it!

Kurapika: Why don't I know anything about the order?!

Author: Oh whatever just say it, Kurapika!

Kurapika: Urgh… "Disclaimer: This author owns nothing belonged to my creator"…or whatever along those lines…

Author: Now proceed to Author's Note!

Author's Note: THIS STORY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE HXH ORIGINAL STORY. It has no relation whatsoever with Hunters or anything you've known from the original, but you still can find many hints related to what you've discovered from the original storyline. This is basically a Cinderella-based version of Kurapika's life, but it won't go that 'happy' and that 'simple'. BEWARE OOC-NESS, everyone, though realistically they will surely have a change in their original personalities, since, well, some parts of their backgrounds are different…

…I hate to announce this unnecessary thing but Kurapika is MALE (at least here).

Kurapika: Why does everyone need to announce such a silly thing? All people know which one is my gender, don't they?

Author: …Well, proceed to the chappy!

Kurapika: Hey! Wait a minute, DON'T THEY? Hey…!

* * *

CHAPTER 1: DAY OF THE TORTURE 

"Gon! Killua! Where are you?!" I shouted.

Oh, damn! I should've not lost them. I should've not assumed this responsibility. I should've run away from home (yeah, like I can do that), I should've just read books at home. I should've … introduced myself first, oh, how foolish …

Hey, my name is Kurapika, the third child of the famous Zoldick six assassin brothers. We live in a region as broad as the Florida Disneyland, namely Mount Kukulu.

Now about the family. In all conscience I was the only surviving descendant of the Kuruta tribe, who are continuously being pursued by a troop of murderers known as the Genei Ryodan / Mirage. After my mother passed away, my father married an assassin, a widow with two children older than I am, but he was slaughtered soon after their marriage. My stepmother then brought me away and married the son of the Zoldicks, my stepfather today. They have three more children from this marriage, so at the moment I have five stepsiblings. Understood? No? Oh, whatever, like I care.

"Gon! Killua! Where are you?!" I shouted again.

Huh … those two had been constantly vanishing and it tortured me a lot, by compelling me to travel around house this huge, which wasn't able to be traveled around by foot in just one day. I even look for them inside the servants' rooms one by one, while each time asking, "Do you happen to see Gon and Killua?" until 200 times, opening and closing 200 doors, as well as not forgetting to say "thank you," until 200 times also.

Let's see, under the beds, under the sink, inside the wardrobes, behind the vases, under the tables, in the laundry …

THEY'RE NOWHERE! Ah, how about in the toilet?

I'll try it …

"Aaaaagh!" I yelled as a ten-centimeter nail welcomed my uninvited arrival.

"Kurapika, you can be on your good behavior and knock on the door before entering, can't you?"

Who's inside … a certain black, long-haired someone.

"Aaaah! G-gomenasai!" I closed the door (or slammed it to be more exact) and broke into a run.

And so … now I was outside the house. The hardest part of this hide-and-seek game was to search for them in this oh-so-very-wide "yard" of the Zoldicks residence, but now and again, those two absent-minded children made everything much easier …

"Gon! Killua! There you are!" I saw them playing around with … Mike, huh? Oh dear …

"Hey, you! What did you guys do that you're all dirty! Hurry up and take a bath!" The twins looked taken aback then they saw me crossing the field and approaching them.

"Aah! It's Kurapika! Ruuun!" They jumped onto Mike's back and it burst forth at a dash. I chased after them.

"Matte! Gon! Killua!"

"Ne, Killua, why do we have to run away? We have Mike with us, don't we?" asked the black-haired boy to his twin brother.

"… nice idea! Hey, Mike, after Kurapika! Don't let him get away!" ordered the other. As expected from the family's greatly-trained hound dog, it obeyed Killua like an adamant robot. All of a sudden, Mike turned around and made a beeline for … me!

"Aaaaigh! Mi-mike… stop… h-hey!"

"Yay! Chase him away, Mike!" Gon piped up cheerfully.

I had no choice but to betake myself to my heels. Somehow the situation was reversed and now I was the one who was being hunted!

"H-hey! Gon, Killua, command Mike to stop! It doesn't listen to me!"

Yeah, like they would ever do that. Fortunately I was faster than Mike in some degree, but I rarely had a good adventure in my life anyway, so a cliff suddenly appeared in front of me out of nowhere! Now what?!?

"Suiiit," a whistle saved my life out of the blue. Mike stopped from its pursuit and I was prevented from doing a suicide … but who whistled … I have a bad feeling about this …

"For goodness shake, what are you doing? What task are you doing around here-AAAAAH! Killua, Gon, why are you so dirty? Kurapika, why don't you keep a check on them? Over and above, what have you done to my beloved dog, Mike?!" Kikyo… or must I say my stepmother looked at me as if she was having a bee in her bonnet.

"Enough of this, Kurapika! How many times have you abandoned them like this until Mike was bound up in your neglect of duty?"

How many times have you barked up the wrong tree? I tried to make everything conceived in plain terms, as always. "They unexpectedly disappeared of their own accord and played around with Mike… "

"Don't allege in excuse! Why could you possibly lose them? They're still young, what would happen if they get out of the gate and run into trouble?!? Moreover, this time you even involved Mike, isn't there any good thing that you have ever managed to be done?!"

After my short explanation, she started to bawl me out as always. Oh well… looks like I am unable to do anything else for now. "Hai, Okaa-san, I admit I'm wrong."

The temperature went down as she said to Gon and Killua, "Gon, Killua, go and take a bath."

"Hai, Okaa-san!" squeaked the twins politely.

Mike was directly fed and spoiled, while me? I was used to grumblings and protests from others. But for aught I care, while they were in bathroom, I could spend my time reading quietly.

* * *

Wearing two very identical turtle necked sweaters after bathing, the two troublemaker twins walked side by side in high spirit, thinking about what they should do next. 

"Ne, Killua, we must apologize to Kurapika," suggested the younger of the twins.

"For what? Gon, listen up, Kurapika is an arrogant, annoying, know-it-all person! Even hearing his accent makes me shiver in dislike! After all, it's better to do those things than get bored ourselves, isn't it?"

"Killua… " muttered Gon warningly. Killua rolled his eyes.

"Y'know? That's what Okaa-san said."

"I know, but Killua, why do we call him by name? Isn't he our elder brother? We should call him Onii-chan…"said Gon quietly.

"Okaa-san instructed us to do so, and besides I don't want to call him Onii-chan, uurgh," answered Killua.

"Killua, let's play somethin!"

'Gon sure loves to change topics,' so Killua tought.

"Hmm… I have an idea… " whispered Killua with his kitty face. Whenever he flashed out that expression, I know that nothing good would gonna happen to me, and I was right. They searched for me who was reading a book in the living room. Around that time I was very absorbed in my reading, so I didn't pay much attention to their approaching footsteps (although they had been specially trained to approach their preys without producing any sound, like a cat, it was likely that I could detect their presence in my normal state).

Reading might give an advantage to spying enemies, but hey, reading gives you a hell lot of more useful benefits to accelerate the development of your brain and provide you with the acknowledgement needed for many unforeseen circumstances, (somehow, I feel that my brain skills helped me a lot to overcome difficult obstacles in some kind of tests, I don't know…maybe it's just my imagination) so that slight negative part of reading was surely beneath notice. (Note from Killua: So the best time to attack this guy is when he is in his reading state. Believe me. Watch this…) Killua was skilful enough to sneak into the room and while showing his kitty face of his he…

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed in terror as I jumped from the sofa. Killua bubbled with laughter while guiding his spider remote control.

"Aaiigh… D-don't follow me, cursed spider!"

Wait, I shouldn't be warning the spider, I have to make amends to those two wet blankets!

When they realized that I was going to run amuck, they locked the door from outside and controlled the spider from the keyhole.

HEY, MIND YOUR MANNERS! I'm trapped in here. Well, this is just the secret between us (although, again, somehow I feel that many people have known about this already) that I hate (albeit am afraid to) spiders. Ugh, even toy spiders make my flesh creep horribly, let alone the real ones. However, the gods didn't give me any mercy because suddenly a real spider appeared before my eyes. Did I have any choice but to make an ass of myself? I was forced to dodge around the room just to escape the stupid creepy-crawlies.

"Kurapika is a real coward," said Killua with a chuckle while Gon was rolling on the floor, laughing. Damn you rude little brothers, this is your (step)brother we're talking about! Can't you consider how depressed I was when taking care of you in Kikyo's absence?!

Really do I want to kill these spiders… but I was too disgusted to do it.

"Hey Kurapika," Killua called out while opening the door, "What are you doing up there?" He let out a sinister laugh while watching me standing on the sofa.

"Killua, you're so great to be able to controls two spiders at a time!" said Gon, still laughing.

"Stupid Gon, it's a real living spider!" sputtered Killua. He was always Gon's private corrector.

"Whoops… "

"Then please get them out of here and scram!" I said, somehow managing to glare at the boys and the spider at one sweeping motion. Both the spider-like remote-controlled creeper and the real spider were still moving.

Killua stucked out his tongue and said, "Why should we do that for you?" Can't you give me the slightest bit of respect? I broke into cold sweat when the real spider approaching me even more. However, suddenly Gon noticed something and move towards me.

"Killua," said Gon while approaching the spider, "This spider is a little queer, pretty good to be added to our collection."

"Huh? Really? Lemme see," Killua breathed in rush.

Gon took a living spider with his hands and gave it to Killua. Yuck, that's gross, and you are collecting them?

"S-since when have you been collecting spiders?" I wailed, shivering in horror.

"Oh, so you've finally found out? Heheh, coz our collection is hidden in another room you've never visited, it's natural that you've just discovered it now," said Killua sinisterly.

You don't say. And don't tell me you aren't just treating your collection as cute, eight-legged pets and manage to train them exercising. Furthermore, if you use _me_ as your training gears, you'll get a laugh therapy on your heads as well. However, I assure that you'll never escape the hospital if you ever have the conscience to do such things, as you have surely understood very well. Well maybe Killua has, but Gon certainly won't.

"How's it Killua? The spider's pretty good, isn't it? It's cute!" said Gon impishly.

Cute? Gon, have you lost your mind? In this world there wasn't any spider which could fulfill the "cute" criteria! Moreover it's a spider as big and fat as a tarantula!

"It has a nice motive! Let's keep it, c'mon, Gon," said Killua, dashing outside the room. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned to me, "And Kurapika, have a nice cleaning."

Cleaning, oh yeah, this room was a mess because of my blind rush in avoiding the spiders just now, kuso!

"Killua, should we bring our toy spider or leave it here?" asked Gon while he was scurrying out the livingroom.

"Just leave it here."

"Are you asking me to POISON you?!" I snapped.

Killua turned around and sighed deeply. "Okay, Gon, take away the spider."

Gon obeyed Killua's order, his eyes gleaming like a little dog sent to fetch a ball for his master. Killua yanked the cuffs of his turtleneck over his hands and winked naughtily to me before leading Gon out of the room. Hoping that their departure augured well, I jumped down the sofa and started to clean things up.

However, I was interrupted by someone who entered the living room.

"Kurapika, tidy up my room and clean it, I'm going to go killing someone," said Illumi without any expression, "jane." And he left without any further delay. I haven't even replied to you! Who do you think I am, your errand-boy?! But this was not what you would hardly see everyday. When I was trying to clean up the room again, another person came in.

"Kurapika, make me a meal, complete from opening to closing," said my fat stepbrother leering down at me arrogantly, "Our chef is buying ingredients for dinner, so just use anything left, also don't forget to clean my room, I'm waiting you inside my personal computer room."

After saying all those in one single breath, Millky left me without giving me any chance to say a word. Damn you! You're no different from Illumi!

* * *

"Kuso! Why do I have to do all these?" 

Of course, I didn't say it out loud. If I said those words louder than twenty-five decibels, I would get a punishment in less than twenty-five seconds. But I frequently protested my slow and depressing life. Clean the rooms, cook meals and wash the dishes for that fat stepbrother, walk all around the house and get scolded because of those two lamebrains as brothers! Hey, Karuto never asked me to do anything painful. Hn … cute little--

"Kurapika," I heard a voice of a little kid behind me.

"Ah, Karuto? What's wrong?" I asked warmly.

I felt a jolt of relaxing comfort while looking into that pair of innocent eyes. And I also rarely see you in the family's kitchen, what ails you?

"I'm hungry, too."

Huh?

"Well, okay, I'll make you something," I said, scratching my head with a finger, Geez … I don't know if there's anything left from that greedy pig though.

"I'm bored, too."

Huh?

"And so?" I asked with a smile.

Are you finally opening up to me? I need to say that I am not exactly full of beans but I quite appreciate your …

"So be my playmate."

Huh?

"Karuto, I'm busy so… "

But that was so lame an excuse to be alleged to an eight-year-old killer-to-be.

"Let's play Mike," the child insisted.

Didn't you listen to me at all? While glaring to me straightly, Karuto repeated, "Be my playmate."

Are you treating me as Mike now?

"Let's play," demanded the child, "Mike."

Don't call me Mike! I might be your brother and your mother's servant, but I'm a human not your DOG!

"Be my playmate or I'll tell Mom."

Are you threatening me? I heaved a deep sigh. Now it's my turn to dictate my own terms!

"Okay, I'll accompany you, with three conditions. One, I'm your brother, although there is no blood connection at all between us, you are obliged to call me 'Onii-chan' or 'Kurapika'. Two, I am neither your toy nor your dog. Never call me Mike; it must be Killua who has taught you. Punch him, because it's a slander. Three, I have much work to do and you know that. Ask Millky to go for a picnic with you. Or go hiking with Illumy. Don't bother me again, and DON'T play with Gon and Killua, their trouble-making disease is more contagious than SARS. Understood?" I said, nodding forcefully.

Man, everyone's no different!

* * *

EPILOGUE 1 

Author: Aww, Kurapika, you're such a sweet big brother…

Kurapika: That's disgusting, I feel like a care-worn teenager! Somebody has to fix this up!

Author: More like a damsel in distress…

Kurapika: Na-naniiii?!

Author: There would be more characters' appearance in the next chapters: Leorio, Neon, Right, Hisoka, Tompa, Hanzo, Baukurou, Ponzu, Wing, Bisuke, and the rest of the Ryodan, etc…

Spoiler: One of the princesses was Neon Nostrad.

Review X Review, readers!

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Chapter 2: In The Pentest

PROLOGUE 2

Author: Gon-kuuun, it's your turn for disclaimer!

Gon: "All of us don't own Hunter X Hunter!"

Author: Of course we don't. Any impressions from the first chapter, Gon-kun?

Gon: Are you sure Kurapika's my brother, if I have to choose...I feel like he's much better as my mother…

Author: Oh, not a parody from "Sweet Home" doujinshi, ne? Is it truly come from your heart?

Gon: Sure it is…I think.

Author: I'm sorry, Kurapika. How do you respond on this, Mommy?

Kurapika: Will you PLEASE shut up?

CHAPTER 2: IN THE PENTEST

There was only one time when every single member of the Zoldick family gathered together and talked face to face: dinner. Thank goodness, if we didn't have dinner regularly, we would have forgotten how our own brothers' faces looked like.

Tonight, as usual, nine members of the Zoldick family enjoyed the delicatessen prepared by our personal chef. Yes, we did have a personal chef, as well as personal servants, personal maids, and all of the other personals, but I still had to take care of my grunting stepbrothers' ''personal'' needs. Why don't you just put your cards on the table and dress me up as a bell-hop? Or at least, order me to dine with the servants. Getting close to you every evening was so making the terrible memories I spent with you along the day come back to my mind it almost burnt my brain cells.

Even so… we're back to dinner topic. Silva, my stepfather who pretty resembled Killua, sat at the very end of the dining-table, between Zeno, my step-grandfather, and Kikyo, my stepmother. We hardly prayed before we ate, but Silva always had something to be announced as a substitute. Yes, I did not call him Otoo-san. So what? It was my discretion.

Silva started his announcement of the night.

"Ahem… good evening my wife, father, and beloved children, today I, as the head of the family will announce authentic news. This news I obtained from Right Nostrad, the King of our land, and… "

"Just skip the rubbish, hurry up!" Millky blundered out.

I gave him a disdainful look. Seriously, it isn't very wise to cut your father's speech, and I am saying this from a stepchild's point of view.

"It is needless to say that your rudeness cannot be expiated by money or valuable goods. I also think that your shameless rush in useless hopes to abbreviate the announcement is ten times as unimportant as the announcement itself," I told him without looking, drinking my cup of tea.

"I take that as your so-called 'rudeness', Kurapika," Millky bellowed.

He gave me a dreadful look as if was thinking to stab me with his knife. It wasn't as frightening as you think, since he sat right next to me and I was still peacefully drinking my tea.

Killua let out a chuckle from his seat in front of Millky and whispered something to Gon, who was sitting on his left. Gon didn't reply back to him, but he suddenly seemed very interested to Millky's actions.

Illumi, on the contrary, didn't seem to make any reaction to the fuss happened in front of him, and so did Zeno and Kikyo. Silva decided to continue,

"Hn… all right. It goes like this; the King invited us to a party, which is going to be held to search for his sons-in-law. As a matter of fact, we will only come to enjoy the feast because we… have no business with the search. It's pretty favorable, isn't it? Although for only the food… "

"FOOD?"

"Can we freely kill anybody there?"

"Horray! Party!"

"Yeah, Gon, let's explore the castle!"

"Play?"

Okay, those were Silva's children's comments expect for me, you could just guess who said which…

As for me? Why not commenting? I didn't think I should waste my energy for useless talking. I continued to enjoy my dinner as Silva answered his children,

"Yes, Millky, there will be food provided there in plenty for everyone; Illumi, don't besmirch our family's name, those who come there are the higher-ups and we are not allowed to kill them; yes, Gon, it is going to be a glorious party; oh, Killua, you can explore the castle but there are limits; and Karuto, you can play around as you like."

It was so patient of him to answer them one after another… compared to the bull-headed Kikyo?

Silva clearly decided that he was done talking. Every pair of eyes of the family members shifted back to their dinner-sets and everything came back to our usual silence during eating. For several minutes I could only hear the faint sounds of the forks and knives touching the plates and chopping the meat; we Zoldicks are silent by nature, silence is the most basic principle compatible in our whole lives and doings, and "no mercy" as principle number two. I was inexperienced as Karuto in killing people mercilessly though.

I thought about the announcement while chewing my meal without producing any sound…A party, huh? I never had any interests in parties, so just let people around me wandering around there like little dummies. I preferred staying home if all of them would go to the party. I would make sure that the night I was all alone in the house would be the happiest part in this recent ten years of my life.

"Uwaaa… Killua, that's my fish!" squealed the black-haired of the twins, breaking the silence.

"No way! Since when has it become yours?"

And sometimes our regular silence is broken by a simple argument such as who would eat two fish on the table.

"You've eaten yours! And that's my fish!" Gon burst out. He jabbed his own fork into the fish, which was halfway being forked away by Killua.

I didn't show any interest to their childish struggle for the sake of a single fish, because I was eating mine at the moment.

"It is not! This is… !"

"PLOK!"

I rose up my head to search for the source of that unfamiliar sound.

Huh? The fish they were fork-fighting for slipped off when Killua pulled it forcefully and landed on someone sitting on Killua's right.

"………………………" (threatening silence)

Sigh…

"Killua……… "(threatening voice)

I told myself, this would not be any good.

"A… gomenasai, Onii-chan," Killua cackled.

"Gon………... "(threatening voice)

Cheer up, Kurapika, at least you aren't involved in your brother's anger this time. I gazed up to the guilty twins and watched them taking my usual role as the accused.

"Not me! Killua!" Gon stood up in defensive.

"Why me?!" Killua contradicted.

"Because you did!"

"Both of you…" (threatening voice)

Gon and Killua squeaked in fright. I made bold to look at Illumi…The sweet, sticky fish soiled Illumi's face like splashed ink on a piece of paper.

...It didn't really make much difference, really.

"Onii-chan…funny, "said Karuto innocently.

Nobody dared to laugh at the comment.

"Nii-chan, that kind of thing is nothing big, you don't need to be mad…" said Millky with mouth full of food.

"Wanna try…?" asked Illumi threateningly while getting ready to throw nails with one hand and fish with the other. It seemed that Illumi's mood was getting worse because of Karuto's words…for God's sake, Illumi, you have fish seasoning all over your face, that's digusting!…I'd rather look at the blue whale beside me.

Illumi's left hand approached my plate and put the bone-of-contention fish on my food.

Hey!

I had the urge to protest him, but I didn't do it in the end. If I had done it, who knows what Kikyo would have done.

Afterwards the atmosphere was reverted to the usual silence, albeit duller, and I also had to eat a bonus of a horrible fish, fresh from licking Illumi's face...so unlucky am I, as always…kuso…

* * *

After dinner session, all members of the Zoldick family continued their own activities; including myself. I continued my devil-may-care housework, which was washing the dishes. Before I tidied up the dirty plates on the dining table, Kikyo had yelled to me,

"Kurapika! Remember to wash the glasses, too! And never use your nen, if I once again see you using your nen for washing, YOU have to take care of Mike for a clear month! Remember that!"

"Hai, hai, "I said, putting the plates in one high stack.

Kikyo sniffed and left me alone with the messy table. I heaved a deep sigh.

I knew, that the thing my stepmother regretted most was my knowledge of nen. When I was young my father taught me the basic skills of nen mastery. "Nen" was the ability to use a power invisible to many of ordinary people in the world, which could only be managed by certain people; whoever they were, the number of nen users found even by another nen user was very limited, due to the constant practice which was obliged to be accompanied by difficult and sometimes exhaustingly complicated mind control of oneself needed for learning to control nen. This was why only strong-willed individuals could master nen.

Nen, for certain people, was known as a double-edged knife as nen could reinforce the pure powers of their own bodies…and at the same time complicating the matters as long as the opponent also took advantage by using his or her nen. This severely applied to my current condition.

Mirage, as the class A black-listed criminals, had been undoubtedly using nen in their actions. There were millions of proves from survivors who had witnessed their attacks or had experienced a fight with them, and people who had secretly surveyed the troupe's deadly ambushes, that Genei Ryodan was positively and dreadfully made into a super killing machine beyond compare in the land all thanks to their nen abilities.

I kept strengthening my nen with all my anger and grudge…seeking for revenge…I even discovered and learned how to use four basic principles of nen altogether by myself when I was eight…this ability, I assumed, was the one called "hatsu" as my father once told me, "the final principle you will learn after the first four…"

EPILOGUE 2

Gon: Ah! It's nen!

Author: Yes, it is. However, some points will differ from the original nen © Yoshihiro Togashi.

Gon: And Killua doesn't like fish that much.

Author: It was Kurapika's homemade fish.

Gon: For real?!

Author: No. But I thought you'd like a mother who can cook.

Gon: Kurapika, can I call you 'Okaa-san' from now on?

Kurapika: (sweatdropped) Rejected.

Author: Gon, don't forget to call Leorio 'Too-san'!

Kurapika: Wait a second!

Author: I don't own 'Sweet Home'. Comments, critics, and… well, flames are always welcomed. See you next time!

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Chapter 3: Finite Choice

PROLOGUE 3

Killua: "The author's already dead by now if Hunter X Hunter belongs to the author…"

Author: …That's one disturbing disclaimer…Do you have something in mind?

Killua: …Why was Kurapika in this story afraid of spiders?

Author: That's one idea of a side story, but you can't know it now.

Killua: Doesn't he know that spiders are the symbol of the Genei Ryodan?

Author: He wouldn't mention it much…One more side note…Author uses Japanese names for types of hatsu…readers can see Author's Profile for translation aid…..

CHAPTER 3: FINITE CHOICE

_**Flashback**_

It was a very beautiful day if I remembered correctly. The sun was shining dazzlingly as I was crossing the field near my house, when the most bracing climate of the year colored the sky. The cloud was dyed azure, and the morning chorus of the insects could be heard among the damp sheets of emerald greenery along my path. Around a dozen of old wooden trees grew in the middle of the grass field like a small forest, with all of their sparkling leaves bathed with dew.

"Too-san! Too-san! Look!" I called out cheerfully when I made a dash towards one of the nearest tree.

It might be the last sunny day I enjoyed in my younger days…

I stopped under the tree and looked up to search for my father. I could find him without much effort…There he was, lying lazily on one of the largest branches; he really resembled a leopard saving his energy for hunting preys in the dead of night. Why hadn't he replied back to me if he was there all the time? I shook the tree rather vigorously with my bare hands.

"Argh… Kurapika, why did you need to disturb my sleep?" my father called out, "Go back and practice."

"You're taking a nap on the tree again! I'll tell Kaa-san!" I was saying, threateningly pretending to run back home.

"Matte! Don't tell your… aaagh, what d'you want to say?" He got up and sat on the branch impatiently while looking down at me.

"I've finished the hatsu practice as you said!" I said, showing him what I had practised, "Now when will you teach me 'hatsu ability'?"

I could barely watch his expression changed under the dark shadows of the leaves, but he seemed to look rather impressed. "That's good," was all he said.

"C'mon, Too-san, teach me 'hatsu'!" I demanded.

"You've mastered everything about the water technique. Congratulations," he said and directly went back to his sleep position.

"I mean 'hatsu ability'…! 'Hatsu ability', 'nen ability', whatever you call it! It's the one when you can…like focusing your power to your hand and then sending a very powerful blow in a burst of light!" I said, "I want to do big things like that, too!"

"Not today," he said, yawning.

"HUH? Why… ?! You PROMISED!"

He suddenly jumped down off the tree.

"I changed my mind, "he said with why-should-I-care tone.

"You really have such a CHANGING attitude!"

I could see a small nerve twitched on his forehead.

"You're really getting better in teasing people these days… "he said, narrowing his brown eyes to malevolent slits. He did have 'henka' nen type, see…

"That's because I learn a lot from you!" I said.

"And you're such a MATERIALIZINGLY stubborn kid, Kurapika!" he teased me back.

"Ah! You teased me!"

"I didn't!"

"You did! Whatever, just teach me 'hatsu ability'! I've trained the first four as much as I could already!"

He scrubbed my hair and said, "You know that 'hatsu' is the final principle you will learn after the first four. Its ability differs depending on a person's nen type…"

"That means I have a different 'hatsu ability' from yours?"

"Don't cut my explanation!" he snapped, "But the answer of your question is yes and no."

"You always choose 'yes and no'. Why don't you choose one of them sometimes?" I asked curiously.

He whacked my forehead.

"Hey! That hurts!" I wailed.

"Why don't you learn your manners from your mother?!" he asked loudly.

"She always says the same thing after changing the word 'mother' to 'father'!"

"Ugh… why do the gods have to give us a child with an attitude like yours… " He dramatically put his palm on his face.

"Can we please go back to the right topic… ?!"

"Whatever… 'hatsu' is actually the same thing for every nen user, but it's complicatedly different for each individual when it comes to 'nen ability'. And I want to teach it to you now, but I promise I'll teach you later on… "

"You're doing it again!"

He scrubbed my hair again.

"Listen, you're a very gifted child and I know without my help, you are able to master it yourself," he said clearly, "Then you will know that you are more gifted than you have ever imagined, Kurapika, so go practice harder and make your tribe proud!"

"Yes, Too-san, I'll make my parents' tribe proud!" I boasted. He smiled.

"Because you're a very good boy, you won't let me down, will you? And as a price, I promise I WILL teach you hatsu, this time's for real!"

Too-san, if only you had known…

That you would lie to me, once again…

That you would lose your eyes, both of them…

And that I would lose my parents……….

Both of them, too…

_**End of flashback**_

PRANG!

Ugh!

I dropped a glass!

….. I sharpened my hearing to check if anybody was nearby…..

Well… it seemed that I was pretty lucky this time.

I sighed in relief and thought about my gruesome family.

Since the Zoldicks were professional killers, anybody with the surname Zoldick was a nen master. Both Killua and Gon could use nen very well, but me stepmother never approved me as an heir of the family so she never supported me to study nen. Even so, I often used nen secretly to solve house work problems. Joking apart, it should've been legalized, because Gon and Killua liked to annoy me with their nen abilities. However, Kikyo had a down on seeing me using my nen in any tasks. I was buckling to. This was one out of a few things Killua liked from me, and I was not of good cheer about it.

I looked around me. I assured myself that there was nobody watching before I concentrated myself on the broken pieces of glass. I put my hands above it and felt warm energy emerging from my body, to my hands and moved it like commanded water vapor to the pieces of glass. Now proceed to 'hatsu'…

Putting them back to their rightful shape of glass… Sousa… cleaving them together with nen of which characteristic resembled adhesive plaster… Henka… then we got back an unimpaired glass as good as new! Nen really made this life much easier… oh, wrong, it wasn't as good as new, I still could see some cracks on this damned glass.

I put it back on the sink and rubbed it with my hands. I felt my nen power came out of me once again and changed the color of the cracks faster than a chameleon. Now… we can call it as good as new!

Like anybody will thank me for this… haha, I will surely be punished for putting nen on this glass, if I get caught, that is.

Maybe I should use "in" (hiding nen)… but I had never use anything beside myself… could this really work…? I'd better start saying my prayers now…

* * *

Thanks to nen, I was able to go back to my room much faster than usual. It was a pretty good thing practicing nen… tough I knew I belonged to the "gugenka" type, I never really knew how to use this type for fighting. That was why I practiced the other types in the mean time, trying many different ways to use hatsu, but none of them fitted me as I wanted. 

What did I want? An original use of materialized hatsu that could beat many people in a combat, all by myself.

It was what I wanted most… to teach an unforgettable lesson to the Genei Ryodan.

I WILL find it someday for sure, but I am not in a hurry. I had been focusing for strengthening my nen ability. 'Furthermore, I don't even have a good teacher', I thought and sweatdropped as I was walking pass Silva's room.

Then I heard my name mentioned by somebody inside. I stopped walking and pricked my ears to hear the whole conversation. It was my right to do so if my name was mentioned, wasn't it?

"No, he can't! The King may not know any single thing about the boy," Kikyo's voice penetrated the door, "The King is your best friend, isn't he? He can't know anything about that illegitimate child!"

"Sssh, he's not an illegitimate child. Isn't it you who bethink yourself of protecting him?" Silva whispered to her, as I pressed my ear to the door.

"Of course! He's MY son, too but he can't protect himself. No sooner had he been two minutes outside Kukuru Mountain than Kumo took his eyes out his head."

Kumo? What on earth is this now? Mafia?

"How strange to see you actually protecting someone," said Silva with a rather amused tone.

"It's up to you to consider it my obligation or not," said Kikyo impatiently, "But he's still a pain in the neck and a big disgrace to the family. What will people say if they know that a Kuruta becomes our family member?"

Kuso. Who said I wanted to, anyway?

"He's at your disposition," said Silva with a bored, why-should-I-care-about-this tone.

"Then I will make sure that he won't come to the party tomorrow," Kikyo announced.

"Do you want to talk about anything else?"

"Well then, you're never told me anything after your consideration about Killua," Kikyo changed the topic, " Different from Kurapika, he gets all my support if you really consider him to be the heir of the family, that I assured you. He's very talented and incomparable as well, for a person of his age…"

"What do you think about Gon then?" asked Silva curiously.

They continued their conversation about their apples of the eye as I was slowly walking back to my own room, almost completely down-hearted.

I wasn't jealous or anything to Gon and Killua, I was just thinking about how it was like to wander outside this mountain to the top of one's bent. I had discovered so many things I desired to see with my own eyes, solely from manuscripts, writings, and my brothers' boasting, although my chance to go out from this mountain is less than zero percent. My last year of freedom was spent in exile, nothing more and nothing less, while they, my brothers as well as Genei Ryodan, could roam freely all their life. Was this what we usually called injustice?

I never really considered it. All I really cared about was my confirmed future as an avenger.

And that I had never… ever asked to be a part of the Zoldicks… ever.

_**Flashback**_

It was a cruel, creepy dead of a night. Drops of water fell endlessly from the sky, as were running away from ear-deafening roars of the murderous thunder that could be heard once in a while, along side the shining flash of the lightning crawling from one gray cloud to another. The storm was almost in its highest dudgeon when I made a bold decision to confront it, running all by myself while the merciless wind drowned my clothes and body in countless raindrops. I could fell daggers of wind slashing my wet skin, and the fierce coldness almost drawing my teeth, but I kept running… running with my life as a stake… to save the person I had loved so much…

"Okaa-san! Where are you going?" I called out as loud as I could to a slender figure I could barely notice a few meters away in front of me.

"Kurapika?" came the slightly surprised reply, "It's dangerous here, hurry and catch up with your father."

"I ran from him," I yelled, " Because he has made a disposition to leave you alone and escape just with me! I can't do that!"

"It is raining cats and dogs. You must look for shelter," she said with casualness.

"What about Okaa-san? Why are you standing in the rain?" I called as she started to walk closer to me, until I could finally see her clearly visible under the rain. She was the only woman I had ever respected, who never showed fear to death, who was standing proudly in the breach for her husband and her only son, as the last female Kuruta.

Wearing the robe she usually wore as a symbol of her Kuruta identity, she slowly patted my head. I raised my face to look at her, who had bequeathed me the same eye and hair color as those of hers.

"Ne, Kurapika, what did Too-san say when the rain fell?" She asked calmly.

"A sign that there's a danger in front of a Kuruta?"

"True. But after the rain stops, everything will be okay. So if I go home after the rain stop, you can be a good boy and follow Too-san to the hill, can't you?"

I thought about it for a while.

"Okay… " I said through gritted teeth, "Do you promise?"

"Positively," she smiled, "We'll be back."

"We?" I said, glaring at her.

"Now go," she said with ordering tone, "Go as fast as you can."

I reluctantly take a step away from her and finally made a dash to where my father's place was.

Among the thunderous sound and the hurricane tantrums in the air, I could hear some other sound I couldn't recognize, while I was running in the middle of the tragic, violent storm. Which gave me no mercy… Because no matter how long I waited, the rain just wouldn't stop… and after I realized that it would never stop that night… I also realized that I had made a wrong choice…

"She's still there!"

"No, Kurapika!"

"Let me go! What if she gets killed like everyone else?"

"Well, you can't do anything, can you?!"

I… can't do anything, while…

Everybody is leaving me, alone…

No friends are left for me…and not even a mother…

Then who will play together with me?...

Who will say, "Cheer up, Kurapika" when I'm lonely?

And who will hug me… when I cry?

Tears flowed out of my eyes as I started to cry…

While my first revengeful hatred towards the Genei Ryodan was being carved in my heart… slowly grew to an unforgiving grudge… as was in the air now.

**_End of Flashback_**

And that was how I lost my mother.

How unforgettable.

As I was slowly opening the door to my room I remembered that…if my mother could have lived a little longer, I might be able to have a real little brother.

EPILOGUE 3

Killua: Disturbing chapter as well…why was there so much angst all of a sudden?

Author: Just some flashbacks, but there would be no more angst after this, I promise.

Killua: You'll break it anyway, you're a Henka.

Author: Nope, I'm a Houshutsu.

Killua: You're BOTH, if anybody understands what I'm saying…

Author: And there's still one more little thingy about Kurapika's past though.

Killua: And there would be angst there…

Author: Why do you think so?

Killua: Almost anything about that subject has much angst inside…

Author: (sweatdropped) That's a little too…

Killua: Okay, my job's finished…I'm outta here.

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
